Black and white and read. All over?

It's been a tough half-century for newspapers, but their impact is undeniable

November 18, 2012|By Mark Jacob

A newsstand at Randolph and Clark streets sells the last edition of the Chicago Daily News on March 3, 1978. (Chicago Tribune)

Fifty years ago this month, an article in The New York Times referred to a new concept — a "personal computer." Since then, technological changes and market forces have shaken the U.S. newspaper industry. Just a few weeks ago, the "Superman" comic provided an appropriate bookend to this tumultuous half-century for newspapers: Clark Kent quit the Daily Planet. Yet despite the bad news, the daily paper remains vital to an informed citizenry. Here's a timeline of the last 50 years, showing how newspapers expose — and occasionally commit — wrongdoing:

1963 — A New York newspaper strike ends after four months, with shorter strikes following in 1965 and 1978. It was probably during one of these walkouts that actress Bette Davis was asked about rumors of her death and replied, "With the newspaper strike on, I wouldn't consider it."

1963 — Mike Royko writes his first column for the Chicago Daily News, later moving to the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune. He will establish a quintessential Chicago voice with observations such as "God tipped the country and all the fruits and nuts rolled west."

1964 — The U.S. Supreme Court rules for The New York Times, deciding that public figures cannot win libel lawsuits unless they prove the news media knew a report was false or showed "reckless disregard" for the truth.

1965 — A study finds that 41 percent of local news stories contain an error. While this may seem troubling, it's a lower rate than that measured in later years.

1967 — The Sun-Times assigns 25-year-old Roger Ebert to review movies. Two years later, Gene Siskel will become his Tribune counterpart, and the two will bring personality to a job once so faceless that various Tribune reviewers wrote under the pseudonym Mae Tinee — a play on the word "matinee."

1973 — Rupert Murdoch buys his first U.S. newspaper, the San Antonio Express-News. He later buys and sells the Sun-Times; buys and keeps The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post; and sells the Express-News.

1974 — A corrupt U.S. president, Richard Nixon, is brought down by a newspaper, The Washington Post.

1975 — A bystander named Oliver Sipple prevents a would-be assassin from shooting President Gerald Ford, and the San Francisco Chronicle reveals that Sipple is gay — a fact unknown to Sipple's family. The outed hero sues the newspaper but loses.

1975 — President Ford denies financial aid to New York City, inspiring the New York Daily News' headline "Ford to city: Drop dead."

1976 — Don Bolles, an Arizona Republic investigative reporter, is killed by a bomb taped under his car. The crime remains unsolved.

1976 — A Los Angeles Times article about the newspaper industry asks: "Are you now holding an endangered species in your hands?"

1977 — The Sun-Times buys a bar, the Mirage, and secretly documents shakedowns by government officials. The enterprising project is denied a Pulitzer Prize by journalists opposed to such trickery, and upfront disclosure by reporters increasingly becomes the industry standard.

1980 — The Washington Post publishes articles about an 8-year-old heroin addict, earning Janet Cooke a Pulitzer — until the story is revealed as a hoax.

1980 — The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch publishes the first U.S. online newspaper, delivering selected stories through CompuServe dial-up. (The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's StarText, begun in 1982, was billed as the first complete online paper.)

1982 — USA Today debuts.

1982 — Iowa paperboy Johnny Gosch is kidnapped while delivering the Des Moines Register, and is never seen again.

1988 — An Ann Landers column in the Chicago Tribune and other papers embraces the urban myth that throwing rice at weddings can kill birds by causing their stomachs to explode. After getting 6,000 complaint letters, Landers admits her "goof" but says birdseed is better anyway because wedding-goers won't slip on it.